Of Menopause and Motorcycles

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Katey Sagal is sitting in a jail cell because she whacked a "skinny tart," with a skateboard and broke her nose. It all happened when Clay Morrow, her husband, and leader of a motorcycle gang – Sons of Anarchy – went on a road trip and had a dalliance he shouldn't have. Lesson? You don't cross a menopausal woman.

And rather than letting Clay bail her out, she tells him to go home. "I just need a little me time," she states. I know how she feels.

In the past year since we've gotten rid of cable and switched to Roku, Steve and I have been watching a number of tv series that we missed first time around. We started with the rather wholesome Friday Night Lights, then moved on to all four seasons of Breaking Bad, and now it's Sons of Anarchy, which I can't seem to get enough of though Steve thinks they chew up the scenery in their acting.

But menopause, motorcyles, and biker love? What could be better? And I thought Katey Sagal did a great job of portraying her character Gemma's changing hormones. First there was the love scene, where there was a bit of a moisture problem. "I'm 51. I'm too young for this," Gemma complains to her friend. "You're lucky," her friend replies. "My walls dried up at 45." And she tells her there's a cream that can help. True that.

Then there are the scenes where Sagal is wiping perspiration from her forehead. I'd often wondered how she could wear so much tight leather and not break into a sweat. Now I know that she's just hitting the hot flash stage.

And so far, despite well, the anarchic darkness of the show, I do think the menopause scenes are realistic. No wonder Sagal won a 2010 Golden Globe for best actress in a drama television series. I for one will keep watching.